The procurement is for Intervention Area (IA) which currently covers over 750,000 premises as described in Section 3 of the PIM (and, as noted in the PIM, the number of premises and the scope of the Intervention Area and each Lot Area may change).

The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:

• Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area

• Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area

• Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area.

Two Ownership Models are included within the Procurement, subject to the Ownership Model Determination (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:

• Commercial Stimulus Model (private sector build, finance, own, operate and maintain with obligations)

• Concession Model (private sector finance, build, operate and maintain with asset reversion)

Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA on either or both of the Ownership Options as described in Section 4 of the PIM.

Bidder(s) are referred to Section 6 of the PIM which details the likely wholesale network, products and services to be provided under the Contract.

The contract period will likely be for 25 years (300 months) with no options to extend.

Bidders should note that the Department reserves the right to refine, remove or change its requirements during the Procurement process. Bidders should also note that as set out in the PIM there may be changes in the scope and/or scale of the services required under the Contract and the Department may seek to agree a modification to the Contract after award to facilitate the provision of such services by the contractor.

Further details are set out in the PIM.

Please see Section 7.5 of the PIM which details the Department‘s position on optional and additional services.

The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who (or whose Bidder Member) falls within any of the circumstances set out in Regulation 53(1) of the European Communities (Award of Public Authorities‘ Contracts) Regulations 2006.

The Department may, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who (or whose Bidder Member) falls within any of the circumstances set out in Regulation 53(4) of the European Communities (Award of Public Authorities‘ Contracts) Regulations 2006.

These grounds are as described in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire available on eTenders.

The Bidder must in their response to the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire provide the information and evidence required within the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire

The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to satisfy the minimum score relating to its demonstrated Economic and Financial Standing which will be assessed in accordance with section 12.7 of the PIM.

The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to self-certify to the satisfaction of the Department its agreement and capability to provide insurances and a performance bond (where applicable) in accordance with PQQ questions A.9 and B.9 respectively.

These grounds are further described in Section 12 of the PIM and in the PQQ, which are available on eTenders.

The Bidder must in their response to the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire provide the information and evidence required within the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.

The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to satisfy the minimum score relating to its demonstrated Technical and Professional Capability which will be assessed in accordance with section 12.8 of the PIM.

The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to self-certify to the satisfaction of the Department its compliance to PQQ Questions A.6, A.10 and/or A.11.

These grounds are further described in Section 12 of the PIM and in the PQQ.

The Department intends to invite five Bidders to tender for each of the individual Lots.

The Department will rank the eligible Bidders based upon the overall weighted scores awarded to them in respect of their demonstrated “Economic and Financial Standing” and “Technical and Professional Capability”, in accordance with Section 12 of the PIM.

Once the Responses have been ranked, the Department will then follow the procedure set out in section 5.2 of the PIM to select one of the Ownership Models.

Once the Ownership Model has been selected, the Department will invite the top 5 highest ranked Bidders for each of the three Lots associated with the selected Ownership Model to the dialogue stage (and will terminate the Lots associated with the other Ownership Model).

In the event that there are a number of Bidders with scores tied at fifth position (i.e. mathematically equal) for a particular Lot, the Department will select from those tied Bidders the Bidder(s) with the highest aggregate score across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 in the PQQ in order to select a top five.

In the event that the aggregate scores across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 are also tied, the Department reserves the right to extend the shortlist to include all the Bidders which are tied for fifth position and which achieved the same score across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 in the PQQ so that they will be invited to participate in the dialogue.

If there are less than five eligible or sufficiently qualified Bidders for a particular Lot, the Department may, at its absolute discretion, continue the competition by inviting the eligible and sufficiently qualified Bidder(s) to participate in the dialogue, despite the fact that there may be less than five such Bidders for the relevant Lot.

Bidders should note that pre-qualified Bidders may be required to complete a Bidder’s protocol undertaking before the start of the competitive dialogue process which will be provided as part of the ITPD. The purpose of the protocol is to secure the commitment of the short listed Bidders to the Department’s policies for the conduct of the competitive dialogue procurement process and to providing an equal competitive opportunity to every short listed Bidder participating in this Procurement. The policies that will be covered by the protocol undertaking include policies on information sharing and “ethical walls” / “Chinese walls”.

Please note the project involves European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding, see section 2.5 of PIM.